Peter Heine

ESPNcricinfo staff

HEINE, PETER SAMUEL, who died
on February 4, 2005, aged 76, was a
6ft 4in brawny fast bowler who formed
a potent new-ball attack for South
Africa with Neil Adcock in the 1950s.

Peter Pollock, a later Test spearhead
himself, observed that "Adcock was
quicker, but Heine put the heat into the
operation." Heine came late to cricket,
only taking it up seriously at the age
of 19 after colleagues in the fire service
told him he had the build for fast
bowling. He first made a mark in
1953-54, with seven for 29 for Orange
Free State against the touring New
Zealanders, and started his Test career
- and the partnership with Adcock -
in England in 1955. On his first day in
international cricket he grabbed five for
60 at Lord's, ripping out Graveney,
May, Compton, Barrington and Evans.

Opponents said Heine was not only
interested in taking wickets. Jim Laker,
in his 1960 book Over To Me,
remembered how Trevor Bailey's
forward-defensive prod particularly
irked him: "Half-way between a sneer
and a growl, Heine said `I want to hit
you, Bailey... I want to hit you over
the heart.' He meant every word of it. It was 100% pure malice." Laker himself
did not escape: after hitting him on the shoulder, Heine menacingly enquired
"Have I hurt you?" His team-mates called him Solly, insisted he was a kindly
soul, really ("full of fun and nonsense", said Trevor Goddard), and pointed out
that the essence of the operation was the ability of both Heine and Adcock to
make the ball rear off a length. "They didn't have to bowl it halfway down the
pitch to try and hit your head off," said Goddard. "When you played against
Adcock and Heine your bottom hand was sore because it jarred against the bat
all the time."

Heine played only 14 Tests, at a time when South Africa's commitments were few, and took 58 wickets. After the England tour, he joined Adcock at Transvaal, and played on for them until 1964-65, when he claimed five for 110 in his final match, against M. J. K. Smith's MCC team. "Age and a long lay-off had tamed Heine," wrote Charles Fortune, "but still left him his fine free
action and good control." There was time for one last controversy, too: after
receiving treatment in the dressing-room for an hour he returned to the field, came
straight back on to bowl - to the displeasure of the tourists, who grumbled to the
umpires - and took three wickets with the new ball.